The Thirteenth Floor
by Sandoz
Summary: Simon's plan has gone perfectly. Immediately after River's rescue from the Academy, the siblings take sanctuary on the thirteenth floor of the Black Swan Hotel. There, Simon will have to face the one thing he could not have anticipated...


**Title:** The Thirteenth Floor  
**Author: ** **sandoziscariot**  
**Summary:** Simon's plan has gone perfectly. Immediately after River's rescue from the Academy, the siblings take sanctuary on the thirteenth floor of the Black Swan Hotel. There, Simon will have to face the one thing he could not have anticipated...  
**Rating:** PG  
**Words:** 1,225  
**Characters:** Simon, River  
**Written for: ** **100moods**  
**Prompt:** 005: Anxious  
**Spoilers/Timeline:** Pre-series  
**Disclaimer:** _Firefly_ and its characters are the property of Joss Whedon.  
**Author's Note:** Thanks to **requiem626** for being my beta fish.

River's body trembled like the last autumn leaf blown by a breeze. Simon wrapped one arm around her shoulder as he ushered her into the hotel's elevator. He made sure that she stepped inside first, and then paused to glance in both directions. The hallway was shabby and poorly-lit, but deserted. Simon hurried inside the elevator.

Sweat dotting his brow, Simon knew he had to time it exactly right. He pressed the buttons for floors twelve and fourteen at once, causing both buttons to glow a bright red. River made a small noise when the elevator shuddered and lurched; Simon reached out to her again, touching her hair and whispering in her ear to calm her down. Now was not the time to be afraid.

The Black Swan Hotel was located in Londinium's largest blackout zone; it was a dive with peeling wallpaper, horrible liquor, suspicious characters and a small colony of rats. Simon felt dirty just breathing the building's air, and it was certainly not a place he would have ever imagined bringing his bright, beautiful sister. However, Simon had already proven himself capable of doing things he never would have previously imagined.

The elevator doors parted and the siblings found themselves on the thirteenth floor--an architectural Easter egg unavailable to regular patrons and unknown to everyone but a select, shady few. The Black Swan Hotel was a front for this singular operation. This floor served as a sanctuary for fugitives and missing persons: in short, people who did not want to be found.

Two guards stood at both sides of the elevator shaft; one lifted an eyebrow at the sight of River, who looked impossibly small under her brother's heavy black overcoat. The hallway was thick with cigar smoke. The guards let the siblings pass, and Simon found himself staring at the owner of both the cigar and the Black Swan: a short, corpulent man named Min-sik Park.

"Doctor Tam," Mr. Park greeted, removing his trilby hat to bow his head. "So glad you could make it on time."

Exhausted, Simon had no time for pleasantries. "Is the room ready?"

"_Fàngxīn._ You'll find everything your money paid for." Mr. Park chewed his cigar. He eyed River, who clung to her brother's arm as if he were only solid object in the corridor. "Let me show you."

Simon followed the hotel manager to the very end of the hallway, mindful of River stopping every few steps to stare at a different door. They were painted a brownish-red, the color of dried blood. He gently pushed her along.

Mr. Park pulled a key from his pocket, unlocking the door. "Get a good night's sleep, doctor. The Alliance dogs on your trail won't find you as long as you're here, you have my word. Tomorrow my men will help you and your, ah, _luggage_ get on a passenger ship."

"How far will it take us?"

"Persephone. After that, our business transaction will be completed."

"That's fine enough," Simon replied tersely, straightening his shoulders. "Thank you. I wouldn't have been able to go this far without your aid."

Mr. Park shrugged. "It's just as well. Your sister is too pretty to be locked up in that place."

Simon was not affected by his air of self-effacement. He knew that a shark lurked behind Mr. Park's Buddha-smile. He was thankful to be able to shut the door and not look at him anymore.

He glanced around the small, windowless room. He was pleased to see that Mr. Park had kept his word--in one corner Simon saw his personal luggage, retrieved from a locker in a monorail station while Simon had infiltrated the research lab. More importantly, most of the room's furniture had been removed to make space for an enormous, icy blue box. Simon's heart pressed against his ribs at the sight of it.

On a narrow table there rested a bottle of sake and a plate of fried dumplings. Simon felt a pang in his stomach—he could not remember the last time he ate—but he pushed his hunger aside and turned to River. She stood near the bed, looking around the hotel room with wide, glassy eyes.

"River? Are you hungry?"

She shook her head. He saw her body tremble.

"Are you cold?"

"No. Too hot."

Simon pulled his coat from her shoulders and let it fall on the bed. Underneath, River still wore the blue tunic and leggings from the research lab. Simon had been afraid that her clothes would attract unusual attention, but they managed to arrive at the hotel without being followed. Her hair, limp and unwashed, fell down her shoulders in waves.

Simon brushed one of the dark ringlets aside, his thumb caressing her cheek. The room was quiet save for the slow _clanking_ of the air vent. Simon swallowed a lump in his throat; through the long months of waiting, praying, hoping, and planning he had thought about what he would say to his sister once he saw her again, but now words failed him completely.

"_Be prepared for some changes," _one of Mr. Park's informants had told him prior to the rescue mission. "_I don't know what they do, but I know that most of the 'students' who come out of that place end up a bit…funny."_

To Simon's dismay, he could not elaborate. In his mind's eye Simon recalled River's startling gymnastic abilities inside the research center. She had always been lithe and fast—she was a natural dancer—but her movements then had seemed _unnatural_.

Simon forced himself to concentrate on the here and now. He wiped away the crusted blood on her forehead, though the needle mark remained like a Bindi or, more ominously, the red dot sight of a sniper's rifle. River placed her hand atop his.

"You should eat," Simon said. "We have a long way to travel."

"Simon," she said, beginning to cry. "Simon, Simon, Simon, Simon…"

He had never heard River sound so lost and distraught. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he reassured her of his presence. "I'm here, River. You wrote to me and I came to get you. I found you."

River parted her lips as if about to speak, but suddenly she hissed, with her face contorting in pain. She pushed Simon away, clamping her hands over her ears and squeezing her eyes tight. She began to cry out. "Too loud, too loud!"

Simon was taken aback. He stammered, "River, there's…there's no one else here…there's no noise, no voices…"

"_I don't know what they do, but I know that most of the 'students' who come out of that place end up a bit…funny."_

Hot tears streamed down her red cheeks. "_Aiyā!_ All around, all around…_there are murderers behind the wallpaper_."

_It doesn't mean anything_, Simon thought, trying to steady his heartbeat. _She's just in shock_. "River…"

"Make them stop, make them stop…" River's knees turned to jelly, and her brother caught her before she could tumble to the floor. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, supporting her with his weight.

"Look at me, River," he said, his voice almost breaking from the emotion tearing at his heart. "Please, calm down…it will be all right. I promise it will."

Simon repeated the words long after River cried herself into an exhausted sleep, her body slackening in his embrace. He realized that he was saying them not only to comfort her, but to calm his own troubled soul as well.

He knew his words failed them both.


End file.
